Gun mountings



March 2, 1965 R. G. VICKERS GUN MOUNTINGS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 22, 1963 INVENTOR ROY GILBERT VICKERS BY J z Q ATTORNEYS R. G. VICKERS GUN MOUNTINGS March 2, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 22, 1963 INVENTOR ROY GILBERT VICKERS ATTORNEYS United States Patent Office 3,171,325 Patented Mar. 2, 1965 3,171,325 GUN MOUNTINGS Roy Gilbert Vickers, Grantham, England, assignor to Brevets Aero-Mecaniques S-A., Geneva, Switzerland, a society of Switzerland Filed Apr. 22, 1963, Ser. No. 274,568 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Apr. 30, 1962, 16,361/ 62 4 Claims. (Cl. 89-40) This invention relates to field mountings for guns, of such size as mm. calibre, which can be aimed and fired by one man but are heavy enough to require a mounting which will itself withstand the reaction of firing.

A field mounting must support a gun at a height sufficient to allow for normal undulation of ground within the range of the gun and from such minimum height and the mean recoil thrust there can be calculated the weight/base-dimension ratio which a mounting must have for stability during firing.

Consequently, although for transport and handling it is desirable to make a field mounting as light as possible, the mounting requires a minimum weight in use.

The present invention provides a field mounting on which the weight of the gunner himself can be utilised efficiently so that the mounting can be of light, easily portable, construction.

According to the invention, a field gun mounting comprises a gun cradle, a carrier for the gun cradle, forward ground-engaging means and relatively long rearward gound-engaging means on the carrier, a couch to support a gunner prone and face-downward behind the gun cradle and pivotal means suspending the couch between the gun cradle and the rearward ground-engaging means so that the couch can transmit at least part of a gunners weight to the mounting and follow aiming movement of the gun cradle.

Preferably, the suspension of the couch is adjustable as regards the relative longitudinal position of the couch on the mounting so that, for gunners of different weights, adjustments can be made to bring the centre of gravity of the total weight supported on the mounting to an optimum position for the mounting.

Other features of the invention are included in the following description of an example of the invention illustrated by the appending drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a gun on its mounting with a gunner indicated in outline.

FIG. 2 is a plan of the gun and mounting only and FIG. 3 is a front elevation thereof.

The gun I is an automatic gun, such as is known, and in the example shown has an ammunition box 2 (shown in solid lines in FIGS. 1 to 3), or magazine 2a (shown in dot-and-dash line in FIG. 3), which could be replaced by a different kind of ammunition supply, for example a belt feed from a separate box. Spent cartridges are ejected through a chute 3.

The gun is provided with its own cradle 4 and this is mounted by a bearing ring 5, or equivalent bearing, about a normally vertical, training, axis XX on an elevating sector member 6 of a carrier of which the other member is a base 7.

The sector member 6 is mounted in the base 7 by arcuate bearing rails 8 centred on the elevation axis YY which intersects the training axis XX on the axis of the gun so that the reaction of the gun firing is always transmitted radially to and is borne by the carrier.

On the cradle 4, hand grips 9 are provided respectively with a trigger, for firing of the gun, and a control lever for friction brakes for the bearing ring 5 and bearing rails 8 which hold the gun on aim during firing.

The gun can thus be aimed entirely with respect to the carrier base 7 which can also take the reaction of firing provided that it is stably supported with suflicient weight applied to the ground at points symmetrically located and adequately spaced according to the height of the intersection of the gun and aiming axes.

For the stable ground support, the carrier base 7 is provided with a pair of short forward spades 10 and a pair of long rearward spades 11 pivoted to the carrier base 7 and having clamps 12 and 13 by which their blades can be held firmly in ground-engaging position.

The rearward spades 11 are spanned by a cross-bar 14 at the mid-length of which there is provided a socket 15 in which is pivotally seated the rear end of the inner member 16 of a telescopic central frame bar of a couch 17.

The couch 17 is thus telescopically connected to the cross-bar 14 so as to permit adjustment of the longitudinal position of the couch as described below.

At the forward end of the couch 17 a pair of frame bars 18 form a fork in which there is pivoted, about a horizontal transverse axis, a lug 19 which is pivoted about a vertical axis to a bracket 20 mounted on the rear end of the gun cradle 4. The bracket 20 has longitudinal position adjustment means, such as a rack and pinion operated by a handwheel 21 for moving the couch 17 along the inner telescopic member 16 so that the position of the centre of gravity of the couch 17 and a gunner lying prone thereon, as indicated in FIG. 1, can be adjusted, according to the weight of the gunner, to bring the centre of gravity of the total weight supported on the carrier base 7 as near as possible to the intersection of the gun axis and aiming axes. The weight of a gunner on the couch 17 can thus be applied efiiciently to supplement the weight of the mounting.

As indicated by the broken lines in FIGS. 1 and 2, the couch 17 being universally jointed by the pivoted lug 19 and bracket 20 to the rear of the gun cradle, can follow aiming movement of the gun cradle.

A prismatic or other refracting or reflecting sight 22, with its eyepiece upwardly inclined as close as possible to the universal joint between the gun cradle and couch, enable the gunner to adopt a comfortable head position, with a low silhouette, in aiming at and following a target.

It can be seen that the mounting illustrated consists of units which can easily be assembled and dismantled, which makes the mounting easily portable and suitable, for example, for stowing on a fighting vehicle as an aux iliary mounting for a gun normally mounted on the vehicle.

The mounting as shown could however be provided with stub-axles for a pair of Wheels or be rested on a twowheeled trolley for towing as a trailer. For such towing, the couch and cross-bar 14 can be removed and the rearward spades 11, which are pivoted to the base 7, can be brought together to form a tow-bar.

It will be appreciated that constructional changes could be made in the mounting as illustrated, without departing from the scope of the appended claims. For example, ball-and-socket or other universal pivoted joints could be used for the suspension of the couch between the gun cradle and rearward ground-engaging means. Also, the two forward spades 10 could be replaced by a single spade of adequate width and this could be adjustable to control the height of the mounting.

What I claim is:

1. A field gun mounting comprising a gun cradle, a carrier for the gun cradle, forward ground-engaging means and relatively long rearward ground-engaging means on the carrier, a couch to support a gunner prone and face-downward behind the gun cradle and pivotal means suspending the couch between the gun cradle and .5 the rearward ground-engaging means so that the couch can transmit at least part of a gunners weight to the gun cradle and also follow aiming movement of the gun cradle.

2. A mounting according to claim 1, in which the rearward ground-engaging means consist of a pair of long spades pivoted to the carrier.

3. A mounting according to claim 1, in which means are provided for adjusting the centre of gravity of the total weight supported on the carrier so as to suit gunners of different Weights.

4. A mounting according to claim 3, in which pivotal means suspending the couch on the gun cradle are adjustable longitudinally to adjust the position of the couch longitudinally relatively to the gun cradle and a telescopic connection is provided between the couch and the rearward ground-engaging means to permit such adjustment.

References Citedtin thefile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENT S 2,377,838 Collings- June 5,- 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS 504,694 France July 12, 1920 527,342 Great Britain Oct. 7, 1940 

1. A FIELD GUN MOUNTING COMPRISING A GUN CRADLE, A CARRIER FOR THE GUN CRADLE, FORWARD GROUND-ENGAGING MEANS AND RELATIVELY LONG REARWARD GROUNG-ENGAGING MEANS ON THE CARRIER, A COUCH TO SUPPORT A GUNNER PRONE AND FACE-DOWNWARD BEHIND THE GUN CRADLE AND PIVOTAL MEANS SUSPENDING THE COUCH BETWEEN THE GUN CRADLE AND THE REARWARD GROUN-ENGAGING MEANS SO THAT THE COUCH CAN TRANSMIT AT LEAST PART OF A GUNNER''S WEIGHT TO THE GUN CRADLE AND ALSO FOLLOW AIMING MOVEMENT OF THE GUN CRADLE. 